The Yuan dynasty (1280-1367), which replaced the Sung, is notable as the first under which all of China was ruled by an alien group, the Mongols. Culturally, however, it was comparatively unimportant. The Ming dynasty (1368-1643)which followed restored the country to Chinese rule, but though it was a pleassnt period in which to live, it contributed little to culture that was radically new. In philosophy, however, it was notable as the dynasty under which the school in Neo-confucianism known as that of Universal Mind reached it culmination,
取代宋朝的是元朝。它是全中国第一次被一个非汉民族—蒙古族—所统治 ，这一点在文化上的影响并不很大。明朝使中国回到汉族统治之下。从社会生活来说，明朝比元朝愉快些，但社会经过一番剧烈变化，文化却没有相应的新鲜气息。在哲学思想方面，值得一提的是：心学发展到了高峰。